Designing Protein Puzzles for Education in Foldit Standalone
Proteins are small biological molecules that are composed of one or more long chains of amino acids and are an essential part of all living organisms. Proteins are like tiny cellular machines coming in many different shapes and sizes and doing a variety of different jobs not just around the cell, but also around the body. No matter what type of protein, be it antibody, enzyme, messenger or chaperone, a protein's function is reliant on its structure. Because function relies on structure, it is important to study how that structure is made, or "folded" is key to understanding how exactly it functions. Foldit is a computer game that explores this process of how a protein goes from a simple straight chain of amino acids to a complex biochemical machine. Foldit allows for players to fold proteins and solve their structure. My research has been centered around the designing and implementation of Foldit protein puzzles and how Foldit can be used not just for research, but as tool for education at various levels
